Your Best Friend
by Lucius Minucius Pullus
Summary: Asriel, the God of Hyperdeath, was defeated. The Barrier was broken, and monsters were free to roam the world once again. Everyone should be happy, right? Not quite. Frisk still had one more person to SAVE. ((Floweypot AU))
1. The Flower Pot

He wasn't entirely sure how long it'd been since everybody left. It's not like he really had a way of telling time, stuck in the patch of golden flowers as he was. Sometimes the light from the hole to the surface just above him went away for a few hours. He assumed that was night time. If it was, it had to have been… what, 12 days? It could've been more.

With nothing else to look at, he spent most of his time staring at the flowers among him. It was funny, really. They almost looked just like him, with the exception that he was the only one with a face.

Flowey- that being his name- drooped slightly to the side. God, he was thirsty. It never rained in the underground, except for in Waterfall. And even then, it's not like he could go there like he used to. He'd tried that already. He used to be able to traverse the underground by tunneling through the dirt and springing up wherever he wanted. But now, for some reason, he couldn't.

Why was that? Maybe he was keeping an eye out for Chara? Waiting for them to make Frisk reset?

No… well, not really. Flowey knew Chara was the one behind a lot of what Frisk did, at least when the kid first fell into the underground. The SOULless flower watched them the entire time. And while he didn't notice it at the time, the longer Frisk had spent in the underground, the more it seemed like Chara just let them do whatever they felt like doing.

It was weird. Chara's usually not so quick to let others deviate from whatever plan they had. But if they let Frisk get their happy ending, he doubted they would reset just to do it again.

God, he could just _kill_ someone for some water. That wasn't even an exaggeration. It's not like he hasn't done it before. He didn't even need a reason, honestly.

"Such an idiot." The flower said suddenly, looking down at the bed of flowers, looking past them. He knew what was just below. Talking to them was the only thing he could do to pass the time, other than staring at flowers some more. "I'm beginning to wish they killed me. You know? Anything would be better than this." He waited for a response of some kind. It didn't even need to be words, just a sound to remind him that he existed. That other people might possibly hear him.

But nobody came.

Flowey drooped, lower this time. "I can't… I can't understand." He whispered wistfully. "Why didn't they…?" He choked on the words that wanted to come out from his non-existent throat. Even without a SOUL, he was afraid of dying. A SOUL gave people compassion, and any of the emotions that are tied to that. You didn't need compassion to feel fear.

"I-I mean, it's gotta be better than just w-wilting out here by myself." He sputtered out quickly, as if the person he was talking to could've actually noticed. "They think this is some type of mercy? Leaving me here all by myself? What a joke." He growled a bit.

"Selfish little brat. Stops caring about little ol' Flowey as soon as they get their 'happy ending'." His face contorted unnaturally, rage boiling just under the surface. "What gives them the right to just leave me here?! That hypocritical little punk..! All that talk of making _friends_ and _caring_ about people." His face morphed like clay into an almost perfect replica of Frisk's. "'Oh, look at me! I'm gonna solve ALL my problems by hugging people and being nice!' Sick." He spat the last word out.

"…If they ever come back, I'll kIlL tHeM. I don't care if they can load, I'll just kill them again. Over, and over." The flower grinned sadistically at the thought.

"That's what you would do, right?" Flowey chirped, his smile a bit more genuine as he looked down at the flower bed, waiting for a response from his friend. "…Chara…?" His smile became more strained. He waited seconds. Then minutes. It might've been hours, but he wasn't sure. All that mattered was that nobody ever responded. There was nobody in the entire underground that could give him the response he was craving.

Because everyone was gone.

And he was truly, painfully alone.

"Haha… Giving me the s-silent treatment, huh? You always liked messing with me like that." He replied, refusing to let the crushing silence get to him. "But seriously, just- say something. Please? I'll look for some chocolate for you if you do! I mean, I can't move anymore, but I should be able to uproot myself and hop around or something, right?" He offered, not even realizing how that could potentially be dangerous for him. He didn't even care. "Just… say something? Please…? It doesn't even need to be words. Just a noise, that's all. You can do that for little ol' me, can't you…?" Flowey pleaded quietly. He couldn't take it. He needed some sort of noise, any noise at all. Something to prove that he wasn't all by himself, talking to a grave of someone that got him killed. That he wasn't slowly wilting away in the dark, waiting for something to happen.

"P-please… don't leave me again… I don't think I could-"

"Flowey?"

Flowey froze. He looked down at the bed of flowers.

"…Chara?" He replied experimentally.

"Flowey, over here."

The flower swung his head around so quick he almost broke his stem, looking in the direction of the voice. He scowled a bit when he saw who it was.

"What do you want?" He snapped at the small human child. Frisk seemed unfazed, as usual. They stepped a bit closer, their hands behind their back.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, of course! Just _peachy_." He replied sarcastically. "I'm just wilting away in the dark. Alone. You should try it sometime, I'd love to watch." He hissed the words like acid. Once again, Frisk seemed unfazed, though they did look sad about something.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd want to come up with the rest of us."

"I-I don't!" He said too quickly, his face flushing for reasons he wasn't sure of. "I'm just thirsty! Why would I want to go anywhere with _you_?!" The flower snapped harshly, getting annoyed. This little punk was teasing him, weren't they?

"Oh. So… you don't want to? Because, I was just…" The child removed their hands from behind their back, revealing a flower pot. The sight caused his eyes to widen to the size of saucers. Frisk either didn't notice or just ignored the reaction, as they kept talking. "I mean, I thought you might like to come live with us. It doesn't seem right, leaving you down here."

Flowey was still staring wide-eyed at the flower pot in the child's hands. It took several moments for everything Frisk had said to click together coherently in his mind, and when they did, he felt… nothing. He was expecting that, of course. He wasn't expecting the crashing wave of despair that came with it, though.

It was absolutely suffocating. He wanted to feel _something_. Anger, frustration, happiness, gratitude, he didn't care. Just an emotion, a reaction of some kind, but… there was nothing. Just a hollow nothingness, choking him as he tried desperately to force himself to act. He had to swallow the lump in his non-existent throat before finally shoving words through his mouth in the correct order.

"W…why..?!" He whispered, trying to contain what emotions he could still feel to a degree. None of them were good. "Why are you being so NICE to me? Don't you have anything better to do? I tried to kill you! Twice! Don't you realize how stupid it is to trust me?" He practically shouted. There was a long, awkward pause before the flower chuckled quietly. It wasn't a happy or an amused sound. It sounded broken. "No. No, you don't, do you? You always try to see the best in people, even when there's nothing in them at all." He gave them a pained smile. "You really _are_ an idiot. I'd feel bad for you, if I could even feel that."

Frisk took it all in stride, it seemed, kneeling down next to him. Flowey did his best to ignore them, but it was hard when he finally saw the streams of tears running down their face, revealed in the small bout of light from the hole above. "Wha…?!" He didn't get it. Why were they crying? Sure, he said some nasty things, but Frisk had never been brought to tears by it before. "What heck are you crying abou—ach!"

He was cut off harshly when he was suddenly pulled into a hug. It was uncomfortable, being tugged forward the way he was, but he refrained from saying anything. He wasn't sure he could say something even if he wanted to, this was just so _bizarre_. He just let the other hug him, feeling the tremors that shook Frisk's tiny frame.

"I'm s-sorry… I'm so so so-orry…!" They managed to say between tiny, quiet sobs. They were always so quiet about everything. "I-I want to help you so much… just please… please let me try. I don't care if… if takes me the rest of my life. I'll help you f-feel again. And you'll never have to be alone again… I promise." Frisk finally uttered, their words constantly cut off or garbled by their hiccups and quiet cries of regret, and… guilt?

Flowey was… he wasn't sure what he was. Dumbstruck? That seemed right, he thought. It was just incredulous to him, that this child could value someone like him this much. He couldn't understand. Flowey wanted nothing more than to comprehend why anyone could place any amount of value in him. He also noted that the tears that managed to hit the ground next to him were enough to make his thirst less mind-numbingly awful, but other than that, he wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure what to even think, or feel, or anything. He just… sat there, numbly letting Frisk begin to contain themself.

Said child sniffled quietly, pulling away reluctantly from the flower as they wiped the wetness off of their face. "S-sorry. I just couldn't stop thinking about how I just… left you here. I know you didn't want to come, but I just felt awful about it…"

"Just stick me in the stupid pot already."

Frisk blinked dumbly and looked up at the flustered flower, who looked annoyed about all the fuss. "What? If it means you're going to turn off the water works, I don't care what you do." He growled in frustration, but the bite from his words was noticeably gone. Or at least reduced.

Slowly, a smile crept up on the kid's face before giving Flowey a sweet little kiss on one of his petals. The small gesture made him growl again, though it lacked any real anger in it. Almost immediately after that, Frisk pulled out a small, worn dagger, and began to very carefully use it to dig up the little flower.

Flowey felt just a teensy tiny bit scared during the whole thing. The sight of Frisk holding a knife was oddly… creepy. The kid was a little ball of Determination. He knew that, if Frisk wanted to, they could easily slaughter him then and there.

Frisk had so much wasted potential.

Still, the kid was almost incredibly gentle and careful, having avoided cutting any of his larger roots, which definitely would've hurt. He watched with a strange sort of amazement before gasping as he was gently lifted up out of the ground and placed into the pot, then again watched as Frisk filled up the pot with soil and patted it down softly, making the flower feel particularly snug in the new space. It would've been flattering, if Flowey could feel flattered. Frisk handled his little plant body with a care Flowey hadn't seen out of anyone but his mo- Toriel. He completely expected to child to mess up somehow, maybe cut a bigger root, or pull him out of the ground just a bit too hard, but they didn't. He barely felt a thing. Toriel must've been teaching them to care for plants.

Flowey remembered how careful she had been with him in one of the first timelines during his resets. Her hands were soft and gentle… like she was handling a child.

In a way, she had been.

He paused and shook his head abruptly, trying to ignore those memories as best he could, choosing instead to just wriggle a bit in the pot and get more comfortable. He wasn't… that person, anymore. Toriel hated Flowey, he was sure.

It took him a few more seconds to realize that Frisk had been watching him making weird faces for the past minute or so.

"What?!" Flowey snapped, glaring defensively. God, he had to have looked like a moron just now.

"Thank you." …It took a moment for Flowey to put that together. Frisk just… thanked them? He hadn't heard those two words in a long time. It was… comforting, in a way. It seemed to wash away a tension in his stem that he didn't know was there.

"Whatever." He huffed. "Let's just get out of here."

* * *

 **Edited to fix some grammar mistakes and add more to it. It honestly felt too rushed for me, so I'm surprised that a couple actually liked it. :D**

 **With that said, if you DO like it, please, leave a review! It really helps me when I hear your thoughts!**


	2. The Sky

The ride out to the surface was boring, all things considered. Frisk had been rattling off about the home they were taking him to, but he tuned it out after the first thirty seconds. Then tuned back in once the sight of several areas they passed by flooded him with memories he didn't want to think about.

"—And Papyrus has been getting better at cooking too, thanks to Mom." Frisk continued, with Flowey flinching at the word 'Mom'. "In a year or two, it might even taste like food." They seemed excited about that part. Flowey just scoffed.

" _Wow_. Papyrus' food isn't legally considered poison anymore. How _interesting_." The flower deadpanned. "And since he's staying with you and the goat lady, I assume that smiley trashbag is there too?" He asked.

Frisk nodded, smiling. "Yep. Same with Undyne and Alphys. Sans and Mom seem to really get along, too." Frisk blushed lightly and grinned. "I think they… _like_ each other."

"Okay, gross." Flowey grimaced. "I've killed people and rolled around in their dust, and even I think that's just weird."

Frisk paused for a moment before they simply shrugged. "I think it's kinda cute. They both really seem to make each other happy. I mean, Sans smiles all the time, but it just seems… brighter, when he's around her. Does that make sense?"

"Not at all. Not like I'd care if it did." He replied flatly. "I mean, why do keep forgetting tha- ach!" Flowey choked on his words, squinting hard as he was suddenly bombarded with rays of light, he had to blink furiously before he was able to see again.

When he was able to see, he could hardly believe the sight.

It was the _sky_. It was huge, seemingly going on forever, like a light blue blanket covering the entire world. A large, almost painfully bright ball of light hung high in the air, illuminating everything there was to see. Good golly, it was- …It was hard for him to make sense of what he felt it was. Feelings of awe and wonder trickled through him from Asriel's memories, when he went to surface with Chara's SOUL. He scowled and shook those thoughts off.

The best way to describe it was that he had a hate-love relationship with the view.

He took a deep breath, his non-existent lungs filling with truly fresh air for the time, and sighed quietly. "…Okay. If you ever put me back down there after showing me this, I'll kill you." He mumbled. Frisk just looked down at him and grinned brightly.

"So you like it?"

"I can't _like_ anything, Frisk." He snapped. "But… the air's better up here, at least. And the light is—" He paused, wriggling a bit as he took a moment to consider the light. With what little he knew about how plants work, he knew light was good for them. Right now, in comparison to the little stream of light he normally received, the big ball of light was giving him an indescribable feeling of energy and something approaching exhilaration. "The light, it's… beyond compare, I guess? Yeah, I don't have anything to really compare it with. It's definitely better than anything in the Underground." He explained, shifting awkwardly. This whole situation was new to him. "If I had to choose between being stuck under a mountain and being out here, I'd choose to be out here. At least it's not stuffy like it is down there." Frisk nodded their agreement quietly.

"Well, we should probably get going." Frisk replied. "Mom doesn't like it when I don't come home on time." They started moving down the trail, the kid moving at a brisk pace while Flowey just took in his new surroundings. This whole place was eerily familiar. He knew why, of course, but he didn't want to think on it too much.

Flowey huffed. He couldn't even remember how long ago that whole debacle with the flowers and Chara's SOUL had been. Resets really did a number on your sense of time, but he was pretty sure that it'd been long enough for all the humans involved in that attack to die.

If any were still alive though, he was definitely going to kill them.

The rest of the trip down the mountain went by silently, with Frisk hopping over fallen tree trunks and such, and Flowey just letting his eyes rest for a moment. Today already had him exhausted, mentally speaking. Or maybe it was a culmination of the past 12 days sitting in the dark? Eh, whatever. He already got the feeling that the worse had yet to come.

Flowey hid his face once they got into town. This place being the closest to Mt. Ebott meant that quite a few monsters had chosen to stay here, and by now they and the humans were in equal number here. He didn't really feel like dealing either race at the moment, though. Monsters were too curious, and Humans… well, what memories he had of them were unpleasant, to say the least. Frisk didn't seem to mind all too much though, smiling and waving to quite a few of them. They even stopped to talk to some armless monster kid who they apparently were friends with. Flowey tuned out of a large portion of conversation though, not really interested in any of it.

It wasn't long until they finally reached Frisk's house. It actually bared a good resemblance to Home and New Home, though it was noticeably extended in some areas to accommodate the larger number of people. There was also a large shed off to the side which, if the buzzing and whirring from it was any indication, was Alphys' new workshop. How adorable.

"Say," Flowey started, a thought occurring to him. "Where does Asgore live now? I can't imagine Toriel is letting him stay here."

"Oh! Uhm, well, you're right." Frisk replied, fidgeting a bit as they looked down at the flower. "He's living in an apartment near the new embassy. He offered for me to be the new ambassador, but I didn't think I could really handle something like that. Then Papyrus offered to do it, but…" Frisk laughed nervously. "H-his enthusiasm was apparently not very fitting for the job, so Asgore decided to do it."

Flowey snorted. "I'm surprised Papyrus didn't kick off another war between monsters and humans."

Frisk shrugged and smiled. "I don't know about that. Either way, I think Asgore really is the best choice. You know? He knows how to make choices to benefit everyone, and he's definitely the kind of person who can sit down and talk things out." Frisk observed. "And with the monsters trying to reintegrate into the surface, that's the kind of person we need, right?"

"Oh sure. Have the guy who killed six humans and stole their souls be the one who represents monsters." Flowey retorted, chuckling harshly. "It's amazing how nobody sees that backfiring."

Frisk considered his words for a moment. "Well… He actually explained all of that during the first few days. He was... trying to look for their families, I think." Frisk seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden. "He didn't tell me much about it, but I think he wanted to… apologize. Or at least make sure they knew what happened, even if it was a long time ago." Flowey looked at Frisk in mild surprise. Slowly, he nodded.

"Hey, Frisk. How 'bout we just head on inside, yeah?" He said with an amazing amount of calmness in his tone. "I'd rather not have to explain to anyone why you starting crying or whatever." Frisk was quiet for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding, moving forward to enter the house. Flowey wasn't 100% sure what got the kid riled up, but he could take a guess.

They didn't like thinking about what Asgore had done to the six before them. What he almost did to them, too.

He could understand that. Fear of death was one of the few feelings he could sympathize with.

The inside of the house was spacious, but somehow cozy at the same time. The front door gave way to a large living room, with a couch, coffee table and television, as well as some other little decorations and furniture. On the far right of the room was a doorway leading to the kitchen. On the far left of the room were a set of stairs Flowey assumed went to the bedrooms and the bathroom. The simple wooden design made it feel old-styled and homely, though it clashed with some of the more modern technology present. Not like that was any different from any monster home from the Underground, Flowey mused to himself.

As the two entered, the first person they encountered was none other than Sans. Said skeleton was napping on the couch, though he opened up an eye socket to look at the pair once he heard them approach. Flowey leaned back, his face scrunching up at the smell that permeated off of the stout monster. Smells like old ketchup and bad puns.

"hey kid." He greeted lazily. He glanced down at the flower pot then, as if finally noticing the aggressive plant that it contained. Sans' look became... unreadable for a moment, which made Flowey shift uncomfortably under his gaze. "oh, hey. you must be that talking flower. the name's sans. I'd shake your hand, but you seem to be down a pair, am i right?" Sans observed, chuckling as he lay back down. Flowey glared at him, but Sans continued. "speaking of flowers, i'm guessing you were the one who would talk to my bro when nobody was around, right? he'd love to see you, i bet."

"Bite me." Flowey hissed.

"nah, i'm not much of a salad guy." Sans laughed at his own joke before leaning up. "yo, pap! a friend of yours is here."

"HUH? REALLY?!" Came Papyrus' voice from upstairs. Flowey's eyes widened in shock and something approaching fear. "WELL, I WON'T MAKE THEM WAIT ANY LONGER TO HANG OUT WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

"Oh my god, you little-!" The flower hissed loudly at the big-boned monster before spinning his head around to look at Frisk. "Frisk, if you have a shred of mercy in you, you'll get me out of here before Papyrus—"

But it was too late. Papyrus, the tall brother of Sans, had already moved like a speeding bullet down the stairs to find out who was the friend his brother was talking about. The first person Papyrus saw was Frisk, which made him beam more brightly than usual, if that was possible. He approached the child and snatched them up in a hug. Frisk shifted uncomfortably- bones weren't the best things to be hugging people with, after all.

"FRISK! HOW GOOD IT IS TO SEE YOU AGAIN! I'M SURE YOU MISSED ME QUITE A BIT, NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus declared loudly, making Frisk laugh a bit. They learned quite a while ago that "I'm sure you missed me" was just Papyrus' way of saying "I missed you". The young human returned the hug with one arm, the other one currently holding a very uncomfortable flower. "I sure did! And look who I brought with me?" They replied, pulling themself away from the hug and holding up Flowey, who was trying his best to _not_ look like a talking flower. That just meant it took Papyrus a second longer to recognize him.

"OH MY GOD!" The skeleton gasped, brought his hands up to cover his mouth. "IS THAT… F-F-FLOWEY?!"

Said flower put on an awkward smile and turned to look at Papyrus, accepting his fate. "Heheh… hey, Papyrus! It's me, your best friend! Flowey the Flower!" He announced, shaking in his pot. This was not going to be fun.

Papyrus squealed in delight and snatched the flowerpot up to give it a hug, his skull scraping against the pot lovingly, which sounded about as pleasant as you'd expect.

"IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE WE'VE TALKED, FLOWEY! IT IS SO GREAT TO SEE YOU!" He cried out happily.

"Haha, y-yeah, good to see you too, buddy!" Flowey replied, his smiled becoming strained at the close proximity to Papyrus. How nobody had gone insane from dealing with the skeleton, Flowey had no clue.

"Hey, uhm, Papyrus?" Frisk spoke up. "I know you're happy to see Flowey, but I still need to show him the rest of the house!"

Papyrus paused, mulling that over. "…OH. YES, YES OF COURSE! HOW COULD I FORGET? HERE," He offered the relieved flower back to Frisk. "WE CAN HANG OUT LATER, MY FLOWERY FRIEND! I'M SURE YOU CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT TIME, BUT YOU MUST BE PATIENT!"

"Right… sure will, Pap!" Flowey replied as Frisk carried him upstairs, the flower glaring at Sans as they left, who was visibly trying- and failing- to hold in his laughter. "Little piece of sh-"

"Flowey!" Frisk looked at him disapprovingly. "Language."

"What? You don't know what I was gonna say!" He retorted, huffing.

Frisk shook their head as they carried him up the stairs and into the hallway. There were several sets of doors, each of which had little designs to show whose room it led to. Frisk led them to a door with a big, red heart plastered onto it, with the name "Frisk" written in the center. Opening the door and heading inside showed that the room wasn't that unique looking. It had a bed, dresser, a box of shoes, a couple toys; nothing that really set it apart from any other child's room. But… there was just a feeling of calm that seemed permeate the room, making the flower feel oddly at ease.

"So, this is my room!" Frisk announced, taking Flowey over to the dresser and setting him down on it. "What do you think?"

"I think it looks about as boring as you do." He replied flatly, though he looked rather neutral about it. "Still, at least it's quiet."

Frisk smiled. "So, what should we do now? We could hang out with Undyne and Alphys-" A muffled explosion from the workshop outside cut them off. There was an awkward pause before Frisk continued. "O-or you know, something else that doesn't involve… explosions."

"…Frisk." Flowey said, drooping to one side slightly. "Believe it or not, I'm actually exhausted from… all this." He waved himself about to reference his new situation. "And I was already tired before you put me in this stupid pot. All I want right now is some water and some time to get some shut-eye." Flowey paused, surprised with how patient those words had came out of his mouth. The damn kid must be rubbing off on him. That or he was just too tired to put effort in being aggressive.

Frisk seemed to think that over for a moment. "Oh. Uh, okay. I'll get you some water, then!" They offered a small smile before leaving the room, returning quickly with a glass of water. "So… do I just-"

"Just pour it in the pot. Geez, and here I thought you knew how to take care of plants." He let out a tired laugh.

"I was just confused, since you had a mouth." The kid laughed a bit before pouring the water into the pot, eliciting a relieved sigh from Flowey.

" _God_ , I needed that. …Thanks."

"No problem." Frisk smiled. "I'll just go hang out with Papyrus, okay? You need anything, just call for me! I should be able to hear you."

"Mhm." Flowey nodded groggily. "I'm just gonna—zzzzzzzzz" He was already asleep.

"..Wow, you really were tired." Frisk said quietly, grinning softly and patting Flowey on one of his petals. "Sleep well, okay?"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

"Haha, yeah. See you soon, Flowey." Frisk turned around and left the room without another word, letting the flower get some well-deserved rest.

* * *

 **Took a while to get this one out. Apologies for anyone spelling or grammar errors! I've been tired lately, for some reason.**

 **Be sure to check up on this every-so-often as I fix and revise this one, as I'm sure it needs it.**

 **As always, leave a review and tell me what you think! Any feedback, be it praise or constructive criticism, is appreciated.**


	3. The Hands

Flowey opened his eyes suddenly, gasping harshly. It felt like something had punched him in the gut.

Wait, where was he?

He looked around quickly. This was _not_ Frisk's room. There was nothing here. Not even color, the whole room was an eerie gray. There was no texture to the walls or floor. Looking up, it appeared that the ceiling simply didn't exist, instead the room was open to an inky blackness that seemed to expand forever.

This was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. He just couldn't shake the feeling that this place _should not even exist_. Wherever this was.

It was about then that he heard a gravely voice whispering phrases right behind him _._

Flowey spun and saw a long, dark figure. Slowly, he craned his head up to see a white, almost skull-like head adorning what practically looked like a melting pile of black wax. Two hands floated independently in front of the figure, unattached to any arms as it seemed lack such extensions. It's face look like someone had tried to cut it open in two different places, one between the left eye and mouth, and yet another on the right side it's skull, going down far enough to makes it eye-socket just barely open, as if it were constantly squinting with that eye.

"W-… w-what are you?" He asked shakily, and then smacked a hand over his mouth in shock.

That was not his voice.

Flowey looked down at himself and realized immediately that, he wasn't Flowey at all. He was wearing a bright green shirt with two yellow stripes going through it horizontally. Down farther was a pair of little blue jeans, with furry little white feet poking out from the bottoms. Trembling, he lifted the hands he _knew_ he didn't have before. They, too, were white and furry, with small claws poking out slightly at the fingertips. He moved his hands up to feel his face, devoid of any flowery features. It was soft and fuzzy, with long ears and a small muzzle.

He wasn't Flowey. He was… Asriel.

But why?

The figure intoned more phrases in its unintelligible voice, bringing Asriel back to the situation he was in. Asriel noticed that, as the figure spoke, its hands moved at a incredible pace, forming little signs as it spoke. Was it speaking with its hands?

"I-I can't understand you." Asriel spoke up, wanting so desperately to run, but it felt like his feet were frozen to the featureless floor.

The figure seemed to stop at Asriel's words, as if pondering the little monster child's words. Slowly, and with what looked like incredible effort, the slouching figure righted itself, blinking once. Then twice. On the third time, it's eyes (well, eye) snapped open, the figure's left eye began to glow fiercely with a light blue pupil, the right one faintly resonating with an orange light to complete the mismatched set. Asriel choked on air- he had seen that blue eye before.

 _bud, listen to me. you seem like a cool little flower._

 _but if you keep going the way you're going…_

 _YoU'rE gOnNa HaVe A bAd TiMe._

 _…_

 _it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming…_

 _on days like this, people like you…_

 _ShOuLd Be BURNING IN HELL._

Asriel collapsed to his knees, fighting back tears as he was suddenly flooded with the memories of everything he'd done as a flower, his briefly regained conscience unable to make him feel anything other than complete absolute horror.

It felt like his sins were crawling on his back.

" _Understand this._ " The figure said, seeming to speak with magic now as his mouth no longer moved. " _I know what you have done, Dreemurr. You do not deserve the mercy you have been given from the child with twin-hearts._ "

"T-twin-hearts? What a-are you-" Asriel tried to talk but was cut off from a sudden push from the figure's magic, launching him harshly into the nearest wall and sending white-hot pain through his shoulder. Blinking away tears, he struggled to right himself. The figure didn't seem to notice or care.

" _Silence_." It said coldly. " _You know them as Frisk. Through their DETERMINATION, they have forced the lanes of time in a new direction. They have changed fate. Your fate, specifically_. _It is because of this that you are not currently wallowing in the forgotten Ruins as you deserve."_

"S-so…?" Asriel trailed off, hating the quaking in his voice, but given the situation, he felt it wasn't for nothing. "What's wrong with Frisk trying to save me…?"

" _You are the only one that can take their happy ending away._ " It replied harshly, the glowing light in his eyes flashing brightly in what Asriel fearfully assumed was fury. " _Alone in the underground, you posed no threat to anyone. There was nothing you could reset anymore. All you could do was serve the punishment fate had decided for you. But now. Should the child with twin-hearts perish, your DETERMINATION…_ " It paused, as if it feared something. " _I cannot allow you to turn all of Time into your plaything once again._ "

"I-I won't!" The young monster cried out. "Not even Flowey would find it in him to… to hurt…" He didn't even like thinking about it. "Not even _he_ is that cruel! Just please…" Asriel grew quiet, looking away. "Just… let them try to fix me."

" _Charming_." It said in disgust. " _You ask for the mercy you never gave anyone else._ " Asriel flinched visibly, blinking away tears as his sins seemed to grow more painful to him, like they were clawing away at his flesh in anger. " _Unfortunately, that is a risk I cannot allow. The very fabric of time and space is at risk should events be reverted. Frisk I can already tell would never do that, but you… you are not Frisk._ " The darkness that seemed to form the figure's body started to drip off into inky black tentacles, slowly consuming the room around them in complete, oppressive darkness. " _I am afraid your continued existence must be snuffed out to ensure all the world's efforts haven't been for nothing."_ Suddenly, one of the dark tendrils shot out and coiled around Asriel's legs, eliciting a shocked cry of pain from the small boss monster as the blackness seemed to melt onto him, creeping up his small form. It felt like he was burning.

He couldn't see his legs.

He couldn't _feel his legs._

…

His legs were gone.

" _I admit that this is unfortunate for you_." The figure spoke. Asriel couldn't hear, too consumed by the pain of being systematically erased on a molecular and spiritual level. " _But I have seen all the chronological possibilities. This is the only way to protect the timespace continuum from further meddling. After all, it's like you said_ ," The room was gone. Asriel's stomach was gone. His arms were gone. He couldn't feel his chest. The figure rose up a single inky tendril and swiftly stabbed it through what remained of the child, accelerating the process of his erasure.

" _It's kill or be kil-_

"FLOWEY!"

Asriel opened his eyes suddenly, gasping harshly. It felt like something had punched him in the gut.

Wait, where was he?

He looked around quickly. He was… back in Frisk's room. He wasn't being pulled apart by a man who spoke in hands. He was safe.

Frisk saw him open his eyes and was immediately in front of him. "Flowey, are you okay? You were screaming, a-and I didn't know what to do, I tried waking you up b-but you just kept screaming-"

"F…fine." He finally responded, choking the words out. Right, your name is Flowey, not Asriel. Asriel's dead. You're not him. "Just… night terror, I think."

"probably should've warned us about that, huh bud?" Flowey blinked and turned around, seeing that Sans was there, along with… everyone else?

The entire 'family' had apparently arrived as well, each with varying looks of confusion and concern. Papyrus suddenly shoved his way to the front, already in tears.

"FLOWEY! I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE D-D-DYING." The loud skeleton blubbered, using all his willpower to resist the urge to hug the flower. "PLEASE DON'T DIE, FLOWEY! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SHARE SPAGHETTI AND MAKE PUZZLES WITH YOU!"

"I-I'm not _dying_ , Papyrus!" He replied harshly before wincing. "Sorry, just- give me some space, 'kay buddy?" He continued, looking equally frustrated and confused. Why he was bothering with sparing the skeleton's feelings, he wasn't sure.

"…OH. YES, OF COURSE. THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL GO MAKE SPAGHETTI FOR YOU WHILE YOU CALM DOWN!" Papyrus announced before running out of the room, presumably in the direction of the kitchen.

"Oh, dear." Toriel spoke, glancing at the door with a look of concern. She was always worrying about something. "Perhaps I should make sure he doesn't make a mess."

"nah, i'll do it." Sans looked to Toriel. "i'll just tell him some hilarious jokes until he stops. usually works." He chuckled as went to go after his brother.

"…W-well." Alphys was next to speak, fidgeting in place awkwardly. "I-I'm not sure I could be any help with this." She said, very noticeably avoiding eye contact with the flower. Flowey narrowed his eyes. "I think Undyne and I will go back to watching that new anime I found." She blinked and blushed. "I-I mean! If you want to!"

Undyne smiled down at her. "Yeah! I'm no good at comforting people either! I mean," She glanced away for a moment, presumably to hide her own blushing cheeks. "Besides you, I guess."

Alphys' entire face turned a bright shade of red and promptly bolted out of the room, with Undyne laughing as she gave chase.

That just left Toriel and Frisk.

"…Flowey." Toriel turned to him, the name rolling awkwardly off her tongue. "If there's anything I can do, let me know."

"I-I said I'm fine!" He snapped, though Toriel was undeterred. Flowey groaned. "Just… bring some water, I guess." He said quietly, grumbling.

Toriel grinned softly and nodded before departing for the kitchen. With everyone finally gone, Flowey turned to Frisk, who seemed to have been previously holding back tears through sheer determination. "What?"

"Nothing. I was just… really worried." Frisk replied quietly, shifting in place. "The fact that you slept for almost a whole day didn't help."

"I did _what_."

"Yeah, it's around 8 in the morning. You fell asleep at around 11 AM yesterday." They replied. "Guess you were really tired?"

"Hmph. Guess so."

"…Flowey, listen to me" Frisk turned the pot so he was looking at them better. "I'm here for you. Okay? You're not alone anymore."

"Don't remind me." He mumbled irritably. Slowly though, he looked up at them and sighed. "Thanks. I guess."

Frisk smiled then. "You're welcome." They turned around and plopped down onto their bed, putting on their shoes that Flowey only just then realized they weren't wearing. "So, since you slept for so long… today we're gonna have to do everything I was planning for you yesterday."

"God have mercy on my non-existent soul."

Flowey was so distracted by the horror of whatever Frisk had planned he didn't see the inky tendrils receding into the cracks of the walls.

* * *

 **THE PLOT THICKENS**

 **This one wasn't in my original plans, but after looking at way too much Gaster-related stuff, I got the idea for it and decided to fit it in. Don't worry, we should be seeing more of our hand-speaking friend along the line.**

 **Also you people have NO FREAKING IDEA how long I spent trying to get Wingdings to work in this thing. I'm pretty sure it's impossible, but let me know if any of you know if there's a way to do it.**

 **Anyway, be sure to leave some feedback! I really, really appreciate anything you have to say.**


	4. The Project

Frisk brought Flowey down to the small dining room when they'd finished getting ready for the day, setting his pot down next to them as they sat down at the table. Flowey grumbled quietly to himself. He didn't like being toted around everywhere, and he certainly didn't like the idea of… whatever it was Frisk had in store for him today. But whatever- He'd been through worse.

Toriel hummed quietly as she brought out Frisk's breakfast and set it down in front of the child, giving them a light pat on the head. Looked like an omelet of some sort, which was odd. Flowey filed through Asriel's old memories of his mother's cooking, but didn't find any where she'd made something like that. She must've started branching out after the barrier was broken.

"They are you, my child." The boss monster said softly, smiling. "Enjoy."

"Thank you." Frisk replied, politely beginning to dig in to their meal. Flowey groaned.

"Okay." He started. "I'm already bored out of my damn mind."

"Flowey." Toriel turned and gave him a stern look. "Language."

Flowey just groaned again. "I can guarantee that the kid's heard worse words than that."

"I still won't tolerate language like that in my house."

"Whatever." Flowey grumbled. If he had arms to cross, they'd be crossed by now.

"Don't worry, Flowey." Frisk said, taking a moment to stop eating their food and look to him. "I'm just gonna show you around the town today. I'm sure we'll find something fun to do."

Flowey rolled his eyes. "Don't bet on it, kid."

"I'm serious!" Frisk huffed. They had that determined look in their eyes. "I really want you to have good time today."

Flowey sighed and shook his head. "Whatever floats your boat." He said, resigned to his torturous fate. Frisk just huffed again before going back to their breakfast. They couldn't understand why Flowey was making this so difficult.

When Frisk finally finished and cleaned their dish and silverware, they picked up Flowey's pot and started for the front door. Just then, a thought occurred to him.

"Frisk, you know I could just coil myself around your arm, right?" He asked, raising a brow up at them.

"Wha—really?" Frisk looked at him in awe. "That's… really cool." Flowey rolled his eyes, but they continued. "Let's do it!"

Flowey furrowed his brow. "…Really? Uh, okay?" Flowey paused for a moment before wriggling slightly in his pot, fusing his roots together into a single vine, pulling it out of the pot and carefully wrapping it around Frisk's arm to hoist himself up. It took a bit of shuffling, but he was able to get his head up on their shoulder rather comfortably. Frisk smiled down at him. If the kid's eyes were ever visible, Flowey assumed they'd be sparkling in awe right about now.

"This is so cool." They whispered before smiling. "I guess I'll just leave your pot here." They set said pot down on the coffee table in the living room before finally heading to the door and going outside, with Flowey in tow. As Frisk walked, Flowey was left with his thoughts. Glancing at the kid, he realized something. If he really wanted to… he could kill them right now. He'd just extend his vine out a bit more and he could wrap it around their neck and choke them to death and take their soul for himself. Flowey grimaced and flicked the end of his vine anxiously, extending it out slightly. Just a bit more.

"You know, Flowey." Flowey froze and looked up at Frisk's soft smile. "I know you can't really feel love, or anything like that, but… I'm really glad to have you here."

"U-uh… yeah. Good… Good to hear, I guess." Flowey stumbled on his words, pulling the vine back down. …No, that'd be a bad idea. If he killed them and took their soul, their friends would be all over him. Especially that smiley trashbag Sans. Bad idea. So he stayed put and killed that whole train of thought.

The rest of the trip was pretty boring, all things considered. They showed them some new stores that the monsters had opened up when they settled here. Muffet's Spider Pastry Parlor, Gerson's Curio Emporium, Bratty and Catty's Trash Mart, Grillby's new bar, and some of Mettaton stores.

"The Humans were kinda… skeptical of monsters when they first showed up." Frisk explained. "But a lot of countries welcomed them because of the… uh… economic boosts- is that right-? Yeah, the boosts from their tourism and the new stores they opened up." They smiled. "So that's good, right?"

"I guess?" Flowey 'shrugged'. "It sounds like they only accepted them out of greed, to me. But hey, whatever works."

It was Frisk's turn to shrug. "A lot of churches seemed pretty happy to have 'em around. Especially when they helped show humanity about souls again." Frisk smiled and snickered a bit. "I heard the science people were in an uproar over that. They didn't think souls existed, but I guess the Monsters really proved 'em wrong."

Flowey grinned and snickered too. That sounded hilarious. "Yeah, I bet. Wished I could've seen that."

"People are still arguing about it, actually." Frisk replied. "A lot of scientists refused to even believe it, until Alphys and some other Monster scientists started showing them the evidence. Humanity's having a field day with all the new stuff to study."

Flowey nodded. The mention of Alphys soured his mood a bit. "So, what else are we gonna see today besides stores?" Flowey asked, boredom already settling in again.

"Oh, well... I was actually going to introduce you to everyone properly. You know, everyone back at the house? After that," Frisk shrugged. "I was thinking of showing you some of my games."

Flowey groaned. "Fine, just- whatever you do, don't bring me to Papyrus. The guy makes me want to jump into a volcano."

Frisk giggled a bit at that, making Flowey growl. "He just likes you."

"Yeah, well he's fu- fricking annoying." Flowey caught himself before he cursed in front of Frisk. There was a pause of thought. "Wait, we saw some Mettaton stores back there. Where is that robotic weirdo, anyway?"

"Mettaton? He's on tour with Napstablook and… Shyren, I think?" Frisk scratched their head in thought. "But he likes to come and visit a lot! Same with Da- Asgore." Frisk stumbled on some words, which made Flowey raise a brow.

"Dad?" Flowey asked, grinning mischievously. "I don't know if Toriel would like if you thought of him as a dad."

Frisk was oddly silent then. Like when they first arrived in the underground. Flowey rolled his eyes.

"Cut that out, I was just picking on you. That's what I do."

"…Yeah." Frisk mumbled. "Let's head back, okay?" Frisk didn't wait for a response before turning and heading back to the house. Flowey looked at them with a twinge of concern.

"Frisk. You alright?" Flowey asked, more curious than anything. "What about Asgore's got you down, exactly."

There was a brief pause. Frisk had stopped walking. Eventually, they just looked at him and offered him a smile.

"It's nothing, Flowey. I'm fine." They said quietly. "I just want to show you to everyone properly. Okay?"

"…Okay." Flowey relented. "But hey, I literally can't care about stuff, so you can tell me anything." He stuck his tongue and winked like he used to. "So don't be afraid to spill your beans!"

Frisk paused before smiling as they tried to hold back a snicker. "Thanks, Flowey."

Flowey grinned. "No problem! That's what best friends are for!" Frisk had started walking again.

"I thought you said you couldn't care about people, though." They replied, confused. "Don't you have to care about someone to be friends with them?"

"Not necessarily." Flowey tried to shrugged, but lacked shoulders. "And besides, it's fun to pretend. It makes this a lot less boring." He stopped suddenly. "….Oh, so _that's_ why I'm nice to Papyrus!" He grinned, feeling something approaching pride. "He's so predictably unpredictable, so I treat him like a friend to keep things interesting!"

"Oh, yeah!" Frisk smiled down at him. "That's a good point. Does… does it feel nice, being 'friends' with Papyrus?" They asked, curious.

"I… guess?" Flowey failed to shrug again. "It's amusing, at least."

"Well, at least you feel something nice from it." Frisk sighed. It was a start, at least. They looked. "We're back." Flowey looked up and saw their house.

"Alright, let's get this pow-wow over with."

Frisk nodded, not sensing the sarcasm as they entered the house, calling out for everyone to come.

"Everyone! Everyone, come here for a sec!" Frisk called out. Toriel was the first to arrive, smiling at Frisk.

"Welcome back, my child. What is it you need?"

"I just wanted everyone to meet Flowey properly." The human child replied, looking at the flower in question. "Uh, I guess we can start with you, mom!"

"Oh! That's right, I never introduced myself properly, did I?" Toriel looked embarrassed. "Well. I am Toriel, as you know." She bowed her head slightly. "Frisk told me you'd be living with from now on. I am glad to have you hear, despite your… language."

"Yeah, yeah, howdy." Flowey rolled his eyes. "I'll try to keep the 'language' to a minimum."

"That is good." Toriel nodded. Just about then, Undyne exploded through the front door, looking at Frisk. "Hey! Did you call for me!?" The former-captain smiled a toothy smile. "Whatcha need, punk?"

"I just wanted you to meet Flowey." Frisk smiled and held up the arm the Flowey was coiled around. Said flower blinked awkwardly. "…Hi?"

"Oh." Undyne paused. "Hi? The name's Undyne!"

"I'm Flowey." He winked, playing up his old 'best friend' shtick. "Flowey the Flower!"

"Flower, huh?" Undyne inspected him for a moment. "Weak. But hey!" Undyne got on one knee so they were at an equal level. "Wanna do something fun later? Frisk said you're into stuff that's…" Her smile widened. " _Destructive_."

Flowey glanced at Frisk, who shrugged and smiled awkwardly. Slowly his fake smile became more genuine, if somewhat twisted. "Ohohoh, I think I'll have to take you up on that offer."

"Awesome!" She punched her fist into her open-palm. Suddenly, there was a voice from behind her.

"U-Undyne?" Everyone blinked and looked at the door the aggressive monster had abused to see Alphys, who was looking at Undyne. "What's going on?"

"Frisk is introducing everyone to the Flower guy!" She exclaimed, grabbing Frisk's arm and yanking them into their, presenting the flower to Alphys. Alphys just sorta… stood there, staring at Flowey as if he'd bite her head off at any point. Flowey smiled widely. Oh, he was gonna have _fun_ with this one.

"Howdy!" He said, extended his vine out to reach towards her in a sort of handshake. "I'm Flowey the Flower!"

Alphys winced when the vine came close to her, taking a step back. Trembling, she grabbed the vine and shook it slightly. "H-hi."

"Boy! You sure seem nervous about something!" Flowey tilted his head slightly. "What's the matter?"

"N-nothing!" She announced, clenching her hands into shaking fists. "I'm just… uh… just… r-really glad that you're here! Heheheheh…heheh….heh." She trailed off. Frisk cleared their throat before this could get any worse.

"Alphys, uh. Are you still going to show Flowey that thing you've been working on later?"

"Huh? Oh! Oh, uh, o-of course!" She exclaimed, smiling awkwardly. She actually seemed excited. "Once y-you two are done with everything, f-feel free to stop by my lab!" Flower arched a brow. What were they talking about?

"Whoa, wait!" Undyne, looked at Flowey. "That thing she's been working on is for you?!"

"What are we talking about?" Flowey asked. He was getting irritated with being left out of the loop.

"No, not yet." Frisk said, looking at Flowey and giving him a smug grin. "That's for later." Flowey just grumbled irritably.

"Alright, so do I have meet tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb?" He asked sarcastically, referring to the Skeleton Brothers.

"Hmm. Well, I guess not." Frisk decided. "Papyrus already knows you, and you met Sans yesterday."

"Besides," Toriel cut in. "Sans and Papyrus went out for a drive today. I do not know when they'll be back."

"Yeah, great." Flowey yawned as the others went back to their business, leaving Frisk and Flowey to their own device. "…Sooo, what now?"

"…Uh." Frisk shifted slightly. "…Video games?"

"…Video games."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"We could go check on whatever the lizard is doing that involves me."

"But I wanted to save that for later!"

"Fine then!" Flowey huffed. "What stupid games do you want to show me?"

Frisk paused. "Uh… here." They moved over to the television and opened a cabinet in the stand it sat upon. After a moment of digging, they smiled and showed a game case to the Flower.

"Super… Smash… Bros." He deadpanned.

"Uh-huh."

"Am I to assume it involves smashing things?"

"Well, yeah!"

Flowey grinned sadistically. "I like it already."

Frisk just laughed and shook their head. "Let's try it out then, okay?" They replied, taking out the disc and put it into the white game console. They grabbed a couple controllers and, after putting Flowey back in his pot, put one of the controllers in front of him. After fiddling with his vine a bit, he was able to wrap it around the controller rather comfortably.

"Alright." He looked up at the screen. "Let's do this, I guess."

…

"HA!" Flowey cackled as he beat Frisk for the… 32nd time. He wasn't sure how long it'd been since they started, but it was almost dark outside. "Guess that Determination isn't enough to get that Final Smash, huh?!"

Frisk didn't say anything, staring at the screen with a determined look. Sure, they'd lost again, but it took longer this time. They were getting better. "Again."

"You're on, you little twerp!" He grinned in manic glee. "This time, you're _really_ gonna die!"

"I believe," Toriel stepped in from the kitchen with a bemused look on her. "That you've played more than enough for today."

"What?" Flowey gaped up at her like she had stolen that he held dear. "But-"

"No buts." Toriel said firmly. "If you play that any longer, you'll probably burn it up. And I'll already have to deal with that from Undyne."

"But- I- GRRRRRRR-" Flowey trembled and growled. "No fair!"

"It's alright, Flowey." Frisk hopped off the couch and turned off the console, eliciting of gasp of horror from the flower. "We still have to check up on Alphys' project, anyway."

"…Fine, whatever." Flowey huffed. "Let's go, I guess." He pulled himself clumsily out of his pot and wrapped himself around Frisk's outstretched arm. With a smile and a pat from Frisk, the two headed outside and moved briskly to the little shed. "How does she do any work in this tiny little thing?"

"Hm?" Frisk glanced at him. "Oh, she doesn't. Hold on." They pushed open the door to reveal that all it contained was an elevator. Flowey looked at in surprise before Frisk calmly entered it and pressed one of the buttons on the panel, making the elevator lurch before it began to steadily descend.

"So, you're telling me that Alphys built an underground lab… in 12 days." Flowey deadpanned.

"Well, she had a lot of help from Undyne and Sans."

"…Actually yeah, now that makes sense." Sans, being… well, Sans, probably had something to do with the lab being finished so quickly. But hey, magic could explain away pretty much anything at this point.

The elevator finally came to a stop and opened its door, with Frisk stepping out into the hallway that waited for them. "Alphys, we're here-" They rounded the corner into the lab proper. Frisk's face turned beet red. "Uhm."

"OH GOOD GOD SHIELD MY EYES." Flowey screeched. Undyne and Alphys were kissing. Rather intensely, at that. Of course, Flowey's outburst caught their attention and they practically tripped over eachother trying to look like nothing was happening. Alphys was entirely red as she pulled her labcoat up to hide her face, but Undyne just looked frustrated.

"HAVEN'T YOU TWO HEARD OF KNOCKING?!" Undyne yelled.

"There's no door to knock on." Frisk pointed out.

"…Oh." Undyne fidgeted in place awkwardly before turning to Alphys. "Alphys! We need to put a door in!"

"I-I-I-I'll look i-into that t-t-tomorrow!" She managed to say through her labcoat. There was a long, awkward silence before Alphys pulled her head out of her labcoat. "Anyway! UHM. Y-you guys came to see the project, r-right?" She asked. Frisk nodded. "A-awesome! So, uh, just follow me." She smiled and turned quickly, moving up a set of stair, with Frisk and Undyne following close behind.

When they finally arrived at her work station, it was… a lot more orderly than one would expect from Alphys. There were rows of machines lining the walls, doing who-knows-what.

"S-so, Frisk told me all about… uh, you. And what they wanted me to try." Alphys spoke up, looking at Flowey nervously. Flowey grimaced.

"Aw, you mean you forgot all about me? Rude." Flowey shot her a pointed look. "And to think, we spent so much time together."

"…Anyway." She ignored him as best she could. "I've been looking through some old files, and… well, I keep telling Frisk t-that it's impossible, but… well, I-I guess they convinced me to try it anyway."

Flowey glanced at Frisk, who was looking at Alphys intently. "…Try what, exactly?" Flowey asked.

Alphys had picked up some documents off her work table and skimmed through them for what was probably the hundredth time.

"I'm going to try and make a soul for you."


	5. The Reaction

The silence that followed could've been cut with a knife.

". . ." Flowey's eye twitched. "…Heh. Wow." He chuckled. It sounded flat. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

"L-Like I said, I'm only trying this because Frisk convinced me to. I still think it's impossible." Alphys mustered up the closest thing she could to a glare to throw at the flower. "Everything living thing has a soul. Except, well, you. You were never meant to have a soul." Flowey ground his teeth. "But… uhm. F-Frisk told me about your… uh. Y-your… essence? No, that not right- That you're not actually a flower, but uh. Well, I mean, you're a flower, but-"

"Frisk told you that I had Asriel's dust on me, and that I'm the semi-dead, soulless remains of the prince of all monsters." Flowey snapped. "Get on with it."

Alphys winced. "…R-right. A-and he was a boss monster. And boss monster children's souls are made by their parent's souls giving parts of themselves to form the child's soul. S-so, I've put together a theory.

If I can convince Toriel and Asgore to go along with it, I might be able to retrofit some old blueprints for the DT Extractor to extract soul power instead." She fumbled with the papers in her hands. "A-and uh, I can then create an artificial soul based on the boss monster aging process. I mean, I have no idea if I can do it, or if this is even possible, but… well, I'm willing try it." She looked at Flowey with a look of pity. Flowey was sure was going to break his teeth with harshly he was grinding them together. "I… I want to fix this. I want to help you."

Flowey had shut his eyes tightly. He was feeling something approaching pure, blinding rage.

"Save your _fucking pity_." The words struck everyone like a knife. Without another word, Flowey's face disappeared, shutting him away from the entire conversation.

Another long, suffocating silence. Alphys' shoulders sagged.

"S-so I guess that's a no?"

"No, Alphys, he didn't-" Frisk bit their lip for a moment. "It's just not something he likes talking about."

"No, really?" Undyne said, glaring darkly at the flower. "And here I thought he seemed just bright and rosy with talking about it.

"Undyne, you serve Asgore. Right?" Frisk turned to her. "This… well, this is all that's left of his son. Don't you want to help fix him?"

"I don't hate the Prince, Frisk." Undyne relented. Slightly. "But I sure don't like that flower's dam- er, darn attitude. We're trying to help him, he doesn't have to fly off the handle like that."

"It's not that he doesn't feel grateful, it's that he _can't_." Frisk, looked at Flowey. Right now, he looked like just an ordinary flower. "It's not his fault."

"It's mine." Alphys spoke again, her tone quiet and dejected. "I'm the one who… made him like this."

"You didn't know!" Frisk exclaimed. They didn't like their friends acting like this. "How could you have known that would happen?"

"Look, everyone just-" Undyne grumbled and pinched the area where a nose bridge would be on her face. "Let's just agree that this whole conversation is _stupid_ and to stop talking about it and to just keep doing what we're doing. Okay?"

Alphys and Frisk both nodded quietly.

"Good." Undyne nodded, her arms crossed. "So, we just need Asgore and Toriel to agree to try it, then."

"H-how are we going to explain it to them, though?"

"I say we don't beat around the bush." Undyne looked to her girlfriend and shrugged. "It'd be easier to just tell it like it is."

"I… don't know if that's a good idea." Frisk spoke up quietly. "I don't think they'd even believe us without Flowey proving it to them. And I get the feeling he's not gonna do that."

"Well what are we supposed to do?!" Undyne yelled in exasperation.

"Just. Wait, I guess." Frisk said quietly. "Until Flowey's ready to go along with it. 'Til then, Alphys, I guess you just… uhm. Figure out how to make that… extractor... thing."

Alphys hesitated before nodding. "I-I'll do my best."

"Yeah!" Undyne smiled down at Alphys and patted her head encouragingly. "And I'm gonna help!"

Alphys just laughed nervously. There was a lot more explosions in her future, wasn't there?

…

Flowey's face slowly reappeared on his body, glancing around. It was morning time. More time passed than he thought. A quick look around the bedroom he was in showed that he was alone. No Frisk. Which was good. He didn't feel like going another childish escapade. He didn't feel like doing much of anything, really. He could wilt away and die right now, for all he cared.

…Okay, that wasn't true. Determination was a double-edged sword.

He sighed in frustration. He couldn't believe Frisk was trying this idiocy. Give _him_ , a _SOUL_? It was ridiculous. It was _infuriating_.

They didn't want him here. They just wanted the little goat boy back. That's all it was. That all it _ever_ was, wasn't it? Selfish little brat.

Chara would've at least been honest about using him.

He glanced over at the door when he heard it open, sneering at the Human child as they entered.

"Flowey, I-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it."

Frisk flinched before approaching his pot on the desk. "We don't have to talk about it. Just… know that we can starting working on it whenever you want. If you want it."

"…" Flowey was looking away. "…Thanks, I guess. I mean- ugh. I'll think about it. No promises."

Frisk looked up at him, grinning slightly. "Thanks for considering it."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go… do whatever you have planned to torture me with."

"Oh, we're not going to do anything like that."

"…Really? Well, uh, good to hear-"

"Yeah, it's Monday. We have to go to school."

"God DAMN IT-"

 **Just reminding everyone I'm still alive, here. This is just to tie up the loose ends from the last chapter and provide the beginning for this one.**

 **So yeah, if you didn't notice, I took a long-ish break with this. I got caught up in the evil machinations of real life, but I should be able to get to a regular schedule now.**


End file.
